Movie Popcorn

The Center for Science in the Public Interest came out this past week with some pretty shocking stats on popcorn at the movie theatres. I knew the popcorn wasn't good...but even I was surprised to see how bad it was!

They compared three major chains, Regal, AMC, and Cinemark. Regal was by far the worst because their sizes are huge and they use coconut oil to pop in. AMC wasn't much better: they use coconut oil, too, but the popcorn sizes are smaller. Cinemark uses canola oil so the type of fat isn't as bad, but the sodium was worst than the other two and the calories were similar.

If you are thinking, "I don't add that butter to my popcorn," guess what? These numbers are just for the popcorn that is already popped in the oil. If you add MORE of the "buttery" topping, that adds another 120-130 calories and 2 grams of saturated fat at each chain.

This is really unfortunate for so many reasons. The amount of saturated fat is appalling and is 4 times more than what we should be getting in a day (I tell people to stay below 15-20 grams per day). The other is that it gives popcorn a bad name. Popcorn is actually a whole grain and has fiber and only 30 calories per cup! It is healthy...as long as it is air popped without all of this added oil and salt.